and israel's military says it will consider allowing palestinian civilians to return to northern gaza once it's safe — an area the un has described as a scene of utter devastation. now on bbc news, sportsdy with gavin. hello and welcome to sportsday — i'm gavin ramjaun. we've had a five—goal thriller at stjames park — we'll being you the latest as we approach full—time. and chelsea put their league cup defeat to middlesbrough behind them with victory over rivals fulham. another chance to make history for ronnie o'sullivan, who sails into the masters final

by beating shaun murphy. and drama in the final moments again for exeter — a late conversion puts them in the european knockouts. also coming up on sportsday... heartbreak forjack draper — his hunt for a first atp title goes on, after defeat in the final of the adelaide international. hello there, and welcome along to sportsday on saturday. we'll bring you the latest from manchester city's trip to stjames�* park — with some stunning goals from there. but first — chelsea's resurgence in the league rolls on. the blues got their third league win in a row today, beating west london rivals fulham 1—0 at stamford bridge. ben croucher reports. to measure success in west london,

you might need to look at the bigger picture. for all the money spent, the players bought, it has taken a while for chelsea to click under mauricio pochettino. for all the chances created, they've not always hit the mark this season. goals came from elsewhere, chelsea could let it slide, the challenges just needed a little less force. fulham couldn't quite get their timing right. no player has won more spot kicks in the premier league than raheem sterling, fewer making chelsea tick quite like cole palmer. the rest of chelsea's finishing was farfrom clinical, the offside flag did little to spare sterling's blushes. for fulham, when the target was found, so too were the palms of dorde petrovic. energetic, entertaining, often end to end. but ultimately the solitary goal decided it. three wins on the spin for the first time this season, that paints a much better picture

for pochettino. we deserved the victory, we were the better side, very pleased with the performance, now it is four victories here in a row at stamford bridge. third in the premier league, important to be confident in this one. should have been a red card. so far this season in moments like that one, it has been a red card, and this afternoon it wasn't, it was a yellow card. in my opinion, very good decision, difficult to see there was something more, but they should be overturning that decision. a drama—filled match at stjames' park, where kevin de bruyne helped manchester city to beat newcastle with a goal and an assist.

city took the lead thanks to a piece of outrageous skill by bernardo silva — a wonderful backheel to put city one up. newcastle hit back before half—time. alexander isak with a superb finish from edge of the box to level things. city keeper ederson off with injury before that, replaced by stefan ortega. anthony gordon then put newcastle ahead with a smart finish of his own. de bruyne made an impactjust over four minutes after coming on as a sub for city — a brilliant finish after running through on goal. then it was de bruyne again, setting up oscar bobb to clinch victory with just minutes remaining. the win puts city four points behind liverpool and leaves them in third place. in the championship, leaders leicester were beaten at coventry 3—1, after a red card. winger abdul fatawu was sent off for leicester at the end of the first half, who had the lead, but callum o'hare's equaliser, before this late stunner from milan van ewijk, settled it. o'hare got his second

in stoppage time to extend coventry�*s unbeaten run to nine games. leicester still remain top. and in the last few minutes, ipswich town have kept their hold of the second automatic promotion place. they came from behind to beat sunderland 2—1 at portman road. conor chaplin getting the winner. that result also closes the gap on the leaders leicester to seven points. in the rest of the championship, there was a stoppage—time equaliser for birmingham in tony mowbray�*s first match in charge. they drew 2—2 with swansea. another big win for leeds, away at cardiff, as they continue their automatic promotion charge. southampton had a convincing 4—0 win over sheffield wednesday, which did briefly take them up to second, and there were wins also for middlesbrough, preston, stoke, and west brom. reading's league one match against port vale was abandoned after hundreds of home fans invaded the pitch in protest against owner dai yongge. play was stopped in the 16th minute at the select car leasing stadium, with the club urging supporters to leave the field of play. when they refused, the match was called off. the efl have since released a statement, saying... "we will now

discuss the implications of this afternoon's events with the clubs involved." bolton versus cheltenham town was also abandoned in league one, that due to a medical emergency in the crowd. the fourth round of the women's fa cup kicked off earlier, as everton beat aston villa 3—0. holders chelsea are in action against rivals west ham tomorrow. there are nine sides outside of the top flight still in the tournament — one of them is luton town, who play in the fifth tier of the women's game. they're aiming to reach the last 32 for the first time, when they face top—flight brighton on sunday. jonathan park reports. a sign of the times for luton town ladies. cup fever, so extra duties, and a scribble on the souvenir picks for sam curran and spellman, goal scorers in the cup run. for youngsters like this, something new. something old for sam,

former professional in the us. through the experience i've had, it's a case of winning your personal battles, giving 110% and seeing what the outcome is and taking a chance. a lot of things you pick up naturally when you play at a certain level and you have been experiencing that. but then it is that leadership element that you need to bring to the game to help the younger players. case in point, sam is mentor within this tight—knit squad. so much of her advice has helped me. seeing her careerand how she has become professional has made me realise my dream could come true, that of being a professional player. she's inspired me to continue. anything is possible if you can put the ball in the back of the net. here in this third round, sam knocking out keynsham town, the 16—year—old gabs missed a match but scored twice off the bench in round one against harpenden. it is brighton next, fully professional from the women's super league. if we score oen goal, it is the highlight for me of all the work you have put in. i don't care who scores or how we score, i don't care if it is an own goal,

i don't care — if we get a chalk on the board, we succeed. the boss is under no illusions of what his squad of train drivers, teachers and students are up against. spanish captain. european cup winner. any world cup winners out there? world cup winner as well. you will get a chance to compete against that quality of player. 43 places separate them in the football pyramid, but the skipper is not giving up on reaching the last 32. they guard anything away can play for the badge and each other, don't leave anything on that pitch. so we may not be training or able to train every week, but we have that desire. the one thing we have is we don't get paid to play, so we are playing for the enjoyment and love of the game. we still held on to that when we're in those games, we are

playing for ourselves a little bit more than money. a mismatch on paper but the big slope on their home pitch may come in handy as the luton ladies try to reach the fifth round for the first time in their history. the africa cup of nations kicks off shortly, as hosts ivory coast face guinea—bissau. the government says its invested over $1 billion on hosting the tournament and has built four new stadiums. defending champions senegal are one of the favourites, along with mo salah's egypt, and world cup semi—finallists morocco. i spoke to our sports news correspondent alex capstick in abidjan, who told me the fans are ready. this stadium, named after the president, was filling up hours before kick—off. we took a car journey out here, it took a long time, and reason for that, one of the reasons was this size of the rows and were full of fans, all wearing separate combinations of the

colours of ivory coast, white, orange and green. they were having a party, dancing, singing, blowing their horns. absolutely proud that this country has been able to put on the biggest sports event in africa. it has been happening in the build—up to this game, people want to talk about this event and how glad they are that the continent's best footballers are here for this tournament. there is a crackling atmosphere inside the stadium i had of this opening match. a lot has been put into theirs, over $1 billion on infrastructure, including those for new stadiums, to which have been refurbished, this is one of the new ones. people are really genuinely looking forward to what should be a cracking tournament. it is a competitive tournament, some big names and big teams over the next month or so, who are we looking to expect to cause some problems for the favourites amongst the pack? the the favourites amongst the pack? tie:

combinations the favourites amongst the pack? tue: combinations are always unpredictable, you never know what will happen. here even more so, more than half a dozen teams are being discussed as potential champions, including ivory coast but also the defending champions senegal, quite a group, cameroon in the group, led by sadio mane who scored the winning goal when they defeated egypt a couple of years ago in cameroon in that final. if you look further down the groups, nigeria, they play in the groups, nigeria, they play in the same group in abidjan as ivory coast, their opening match tomorrow against equatorial guinea, victor osimhen is expected, he will have to score the goal, top—sider, lots of good strikers, concerns further down in the midfield, the goalkeeper. egypt you mention, always there or thereabouts and beaten finalist last time. can mo salah get his hands of the africa cup of nations? broker, what a world cup they had in qatar.

when they have got to the semifinals, beaten by france —— morocco. a terrific run, they are formidable opponents for whoever they come up against. definitely they come up against. definitely they are potential champions here. tonight's match is one of ten games shown live on the bbc, including two quarter—finals and both semis. tune into bbc three to watch the hosts take on guinea—bissau at 8 o'clock. let's have a quick look at some of the other stories making the headlines today. burnley have signed ivory coast striker david datro fofana on loan from chelsea until the end of the season. the 21—year—old spent the first half of the season on loan at union berlin in germany, making 17 appearances. everton women have signed denmark internationals rikke madsen and kathrine kuhl. madsen joins from north carolina courage untiljune 2025, with arsenal midfielder kuhljoining on loan until the end of the season. england's tommy fleetwood leads rory mcilroy by one shot after firing an eight—under—par 63 in the third round of the dubai invitational. fleetwood carded eight birdies in a bogey—free round to move top of the leaderboard on 15 under.

ronnie o'sullivan is on course for an eighth masters title after beating shaun murphy 6—2 in the first of the semifinals at london's alexandra palace. o'sullivan will face mark allen or ali carter on sunday in the final, as he bids to become the oldest champion in the tournament's history. and the world number one joined hazel irvine, ken doughty and jack lisowski to review the match. congratulations, a 14th masters final, not bad. not bad. been five years since you last made it, a big venue, so many people out there, how much is there to enjoy and how much of it is difficult out there in this arena? ijust play like i'm playing exhibitions, i'm up for it, no matter what. ijust pick and choose my tournaments. as long as i stay in the top 64, good schedule, enjoying what i do. i am not going to make 30,

play safe, no point. i will not enjoy it like that, so go for the treble. i am not playing kamikaze runs, but i can't leave the table... that's what it looks like. ijust can't do it. but are you enjoying that? yeah, i don't care, and just thinking, if i win, great, if i don't, there is a tournament next week. you have got 22 triple crown titles and when you think back, is there a bit of you that wishes you'd maybe adopted this sort of philosophy earlier? i think i have always played like this. i don't think i am playing any different, really. i don't think... i'm not playing any different, just not bothered if i win or lose. i know we always go on about age, but it is fascinating that you're now 48 years old and if you do win tomorrow, you will be the oldest winner of all three majors, extraordinary, 46 at the world, 47 at the uk, 48 here.

we talk about targets but they are lovely things to have, surely! i'm not really bothered by that. ijust enjoy my time, i have a good schedule, i like playing events, it is a job, at the end of the day. i have tried to think of other things to do and looked into it and thought, maybe not. just try and find some sort of enjoyment at this, so, yeah, and not really chasing records. well, i've got them all, so... no point in chasing them. and not bothered about numbers. more bothered aboutjust trying to enjoy it. it is hard, though. exeter left it late again in rugby union's european champions cup to seal another dramatic win, and with it, a place in the knockouts. they overcame glasgow earlier. but a blow for bristol bears, who were beaten and now face an uphill task to progress.

joe lynsky reports. glasgow in disbelief, exeter ecstatic. this champions cup match had an extraordinary ending and a breathless second half of extraordinary tries. glasgow dared to charge at the chiefs. when they picked a way through, they led here by ten points. for long spells, exeter had been outplayed — but at home in europe they find ways to respond. they barged their way back into this game and with three minutes left, worked the ball into the corner. zack wimbush scored his first champions cup try, 17—17, and henry slade over the kick. that was the first of the twists at the end, exeter scrummes to see out the games as glasgow bear down and scored a stunning try.

they thought they had won it, the tmo went to check it and ruled they had done so from offside. exeter through to the champions cup knockout through a controversial call. bristol's hopes of the knockouts took a blow from the bulls. the south african side were without their absent springboks, but at ashton gate they took full control. they scored four tries in all, one was pure determination. his back to the line and in front of four defenders, he somehow got the ball to ground. the bulls ran clear with a bonus point try and bristol now need other scores to go for them. this was a match that saw the bears overwhelmed by south african strength in the somerset cold. and more matches to come later, with cardiff against harlequins. last year's losing finallists leinster beat stade francais 43—7. and in the same pool, sale,

who lost to leinster last time, looking to get their qualification for the next phase back on track. but lost to stormers in cape town. scarlets have been knocked out of the challenge cup — they were comprehensively beaten by clermont and exit the competition with one group match still to go. the french side ran in six tries, as scarlets played much of the match with 1a men, following the sending off of wales centre johnny williams. he could now miss the start of the six nations. clermont still have hopes of reaching the last 16. scarlets, though, have lost all three of their games in pool 3. elsewhere, dragons are now on the back foot, after a 20—17 defeat to zebre. cai evans kicks 12 points before jared rosser�*s second—half try. and gloucester are top of pool three, after coming back to beat edinburgh 21—20. zak mercer with a late try, gloucester with three wins from three. in the women's premiership, bristol bears breezed past leicester tigers. their experience showed throughout the game as they picked up eight tries in this

round eight match. holly aitchison surging towards the line here to help the bears to their first victory of the year, strengthening their hold on fourth place. elsewhere, wins for bristol as he loughborough lightning beat saracen one against exeter, gloucester—hartpury beat trailfinders, 3—27. —— 33—27. britain's armed forces work together routinely in operations around the world, but occasionally the teamwork makes way for sporting rivalry. this is the royal navy beating the royal air force 28—22 earlier in the first round of rugby league's challenge cup. services were invited to enter the competition back in 1999, and have rubbed shoulders with professional clubs on occasion. the navy have a decent record in the competition after reaching the fourth round two years ago. britain's jack draper has missed out on the first atp tour title of his career. he lost in three sets to jiri lehecka at the adelaide international.

draper got off to a great start and took the opening set 6—4, but then lost his way in the second. he lost five straight games, as lehecka levelled the match and moved 3—love up in the decider. the czech player held his nerve to close out the set 6—3 to win his first atp title. despite that defeat for draper, he'll take plenty of positives as he travels to melbourne for the australian open. the first grand slam of the year gets underway on sunday, instead of the traditional monday. the tournament has already been attracting fans with almost 90,000 watching during qualifying. british number one cameron norrie says he's concerned about a wrist injury, but thinks he's "going to be good" to play. he's up against peru'sjuan pablo varillas in the first round. it is feeling better, like i said, and i am managing it with my team and i think i will be... luckily, i'm scheduled

to play on tuesday, so i have a few more days, so looking forward to practice tomorrow. it's another difficult draw for andy murray in australia. he's the only british player to land a seeded opponent in the opening round. he'll play argentina's tomas martin etcheverry. murray — who turns 37 in may — made the third round last year and is a five time beaten finalist in melbourne. if he gets that far, murray could meet defending champion novak djokovic in the third round. djokovic is understandably the favourite to win at melbourne park again, having not lost a match there since 2018. it is no secret that i verbalise my goals and i say clearly that i want to win every slam that i participate in and play on. it is no different this year. i am just hoping i can start the season in a way that i have been starting my seasons, most of my seasons throughout my career, with a win here in australia, in melbourne.

jodie burrage is making her debut in the main draw tomorrow, as she takes on german world number 81 tamara korspatsch. emma raducanu meanwhile will play american shelby rogers in her opening match. she has a good record against rogers, and beat her on the way to winning the us open in 2021. raducanu returned to competitive action in auckland last week after eight months out, following operations on her wrists and ankle. great britain women's hockey team have started their olympic qualifying campaign with a 2—0 win over canada. tessa howard scored the opening goal in valencia — this was the second from anna toman, ten minutes from time. they take on hosts spain in their second group match tomorrow, before facing malaysia on tuesday. britain, who won bronze at the 2020 tokyo olympics, need a top—three finish to qualify for paris 202a.

i think we are very happy as a team we came into it and wanting three points, we managed to get that. we had to stay tight and give them nothing is going whatever opportunity we had, without too corners or field goals, opportunity we had, without too corners orfield goals, we don't mind as long as we got the three points. the new formula e season gets underway in mexico city later, and how about this to promote the new season? the sport's fastest ever car, driven by the fastest man on the planet. multi—olympic gold medallist usain bolt, the world record holder in the 100 metres and 200 metres, got behind the wheels of the gen—beta electric race car. giving a glimpse of the full force of the car, bolt took it for a spin on a full lap of the track. the jamaican even summed up his experience with a never—heard—before statement. i have never been claustrophobic in my life. you know what i mean? i guess because of the restrictions, it was different, but the longer i was in there, the better i felt.

they kind of explained to me what is happening and most people are like that the first couple of times, but i'm just excited to drive a car! this is the first time in my life i'm comfortable to say something is faster than me. the first time i've said that in all my life, it will never happen again. how did from him there! that's all from sportsday. manchester city, a late win to newcastle united at st james's park, 3-2, newcastle united at st james's park, 3—2, kevin de bruyne off the bench with a goal and an assist. oscar bob with a goal and an assist. oscar bob with a goal and an assist. oscar bob with a stoppage time winner for manchester city who now go second in the table, couple oppose of liverpool who still lead the way. chelsea beat fulham 1—0 in the west london derby, call palmer with a goal in the first half. three league wins in a row for chelsea. they are climbing up the table at the moment,

looking good on their present form. manchester city very much taking the owners of the day, three having two against newcastle at st james's park. that is it from us, thank you for watching, we will see you next time. hello there. although the weekend has started off on a largely fine note with some sunshine around, things will turn colder towards sunday, and into the start of next week, it looks very cold as we open the floodgates to these arctic northerlies, bringing plenty of snow showers into the north and the coast. you can see in the latter part of sunday the dark blue parts across the board. so there will be showers across coastal areas and showers in northern scotland turning increasingly wintry as we pick up that cold and strong northerly wind, and there will be a risk of frost and ice where we've had showers, and where we hold on to cloud, it will not be as cold.

sunday is a chilly start and with some sunshine around and variable amounts of cloud too, a few showers draped around eastern coastal areas, but showers turning increasingly to snow across scotland, and as we move through the day as temperatures start to come down, still 5 to 7 degrees for england and wales. into monday, we're all into that run of very cold, strong northerly winds, winds strongest around the coast, they'll see some of the heavy snow showers, even affecting eastern coastal areas and some down through the irish sea into pembrokeshire and maybe into the high ground of south—west england and also coastal parts of northern ireland. but inland areas will stay dry with plenty of sunshine. look at these temperatures, between one and four celsius, and you factor in the strong arctic northerly wind, it will feel more like these temperatures suggest, —6 and —8 celsius. that is very cold. tuesday is a very cold day with plenty of

sunshine in eastern areas and snow showers across scotland, and we could see this feature running into northern ireland, northern england and northern wales where there will be sleet and snow and there could be some disruption with this. but for the south it stays dry, but it is another cold day, particularly if you factor in the wind. there was some thinking earlier that this area of low pressure could bring some disruptive snow to southern britain, and it doesn't look like that'll happen, it looks like it'll stay across france but it will stay cold for much of this upcoming week, particularly the first half of the week is staying very cold with a risk of snow across northern areas which could be disruptive, and nights will be cold with severe frost and ice to look out for.

live from london, this is bbc news. china labelled him a troublemaker — but william lai wins taiwan's presidential election for the ruling party, and vows to defend the island from beijing's intimidation. translation: thank you to - the taiwanese people for writing a new chapter in our democracy. we have shown the world how much we cherish our democracy. this is our unwavering commitment. but china says "reunification" with taiwan is still "inevitable" after the election. the us military launches fresh

strikes against a houthi target in yemen, that's as president biden says the us has delivered a private message to iran about the houthis. the israeli prime minister says that nothing will deter israel's determination to pursue the war in gaza, including the international court ofjustice in the hague. translation: no-one will stop us, not the hague, i not the axis of evil and no—one else. we begin in taiwan, where voters have ignored china's repeated warnings not to vote for william lai from the ruling party, the dpp. he will replace tsai ing—wen as president after securing 40% of the vote, though the dpp lost its majority in parliament, making it hard for him to pass legislation.

mr lai says he will maintain the status quo